With 61 teams taking part, competition is said to be the biggest of its kind in the south.

Whitegrove and Winkfield St Mary’s took the honours when young cricketers battled it out in the Bracknell Forest Festival of Kwik Cricket.

Whitegrove triumphed in both the Year 6A and 6B competitions – securing their place in the Berkshire Finals during the former – with Winkfield edging a dramatic final by just a single run to win the Year Five competition.

More than 61 teams from all 28 primary schools in Bracknell competed in the festival, part of the authorities Young People in Sport Scheme, making it arguably the biggest event of its kind in the south.

Held at Wellington College, where the ground staff had prepared a fantastic set of pitches, the Year Five contest kicked off with a number of closely-fought games.

All three tournaments followed the same format, a section of round-robin matches and a knockout stage.

The group winners were all fairly clear-cut, with Winkfield St Mary’s, Binfield, Wildmoor Heath, Ascot Heath and Meadow Vale easing into the next round.

The runners-up, however, were much more difficult to determine, with the method of a better run-rate seeing Uplands, New Scotland Hill and Whitegrove all progressing.

Wildmoor Heath and Binfield had little trouble in booking their places in the semi-finals, but for Winkfield St Mary’s and Whitegrove, the margin of victory was just one and four runs respectively.

The ability to brilliantly defend low scores saw Winkfield St Mary’s and Whitegrove set up a final showdown.

Both sides again struggled to post commanding scores, but another exciting contest saw the Winkfield school hold their nerve and take victory by just the one run.

Consisting of three groups, with just the the one runners-up spot up for grabs, Whitegrove and Ascot Heath marched through to the knock-out phases with 100-per-cent unbeaten records.

They were later joined by Binfield, who scraped through by virtue of a superior run rate, with the heavily scoring Meadow Vale completing the semi-final line-up.

Binfield saw their festival ended with defeat to Whitegrove, while Ascot were too strong for Meadow Vale.

The final was another close affair.

Finding the gaps, Ascot ran up what looked a formidable score of 240 from their allotted overs – but they were outscored by an opposition who grabbed the glory via a couple of late boundaries – which saw them triumph by five runs.

Year 6A

This was the main competition of the day, as both finalists qualified for the county finals, which take place later this month.

With the stakes high, competition was expected to be tight, and so it proved – as the opening game finished as a tie.

This was to set the scene, as many more fixtures ended in this result.

Wooden Hill topped Group A through a better head-to-head record from Birch Hill, who progressed via a healthy run rate.

Group B was won by unbeaten Owlsmoor, while Whitegrove, Uplands and College Town won all their games to progress from the remaining groups,

The runners-up spots were taken by St Joseph’s and Ascot Heath.

The quarter-finals saw a late collapse from Birch Hill, who succumbed to defeat against Owlsmoor, while a run blitz ensured Wooden Hill of a place in the last four.

Whitegrove, meanwhile, proved too strong for College Town, with Ascot Heath hitting a last-ball boundary four to edge out Uplands.

Defending 225 saw Whitegrove end Ascot’s involvement, as a terrific final-pair partnership saw Owlsmoor into the final by just a solitary run, defeating Wooden Hill in the process.

The final was not as nerve wracking, as Whitegrove successfully defended an opening score of 244 – and their crown – through tight bowling to win the game with Owlsmoor by 40 runs.

Among the guests at the event was England Ladies cricketer Heather Knight, who offered the children tips and talked about her international career, while Cllr Alan Kendall, mayor of Bracknell Forest, handed out the medals and trophies.